GMs Alireza Firouzja, Anish Giri, and Vincent Keymer all won to catch GM Matthias Bluebaum in the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss lead on 6.5/9 with two rounds to go. Firouzja won a wild 82-move clash against previous co-leader GM Nihal Sarin, Giri caught GM Jorden van Foreest in the endgame, and Keymer bamboozled GM Parham Maghsoodloo in a complex struggle. There are seven players only half a point behind, including round-eight winners GMs Arjun Erigaisi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Yu Yangyi.
GM Bibisara Assaubayeva had a huge chance to snatch the lead in the 2025 FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss, but allowed GM Kateryna Lagno to escape and remain half a point ahead on 7/9. Assaubayeva is joined by GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, GM Tan Zhongyi, and IM Song Yuxin, while GMs Mariya Muzychuk and Irina Krush won to retain some Candidates hopes on 6/9.
This is a flash report—come back later for full player quotes and analysis!
Round ten is on Sunday, September 14, starting at 6 a.m. ET / 12:00 CEST / 3:30 p.m. IST.
Standings
We now have four leaders and a seven-player chasing pack going into the final two rounds of the FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand.
FIDE Grand Swiss Standings After Round 9
Lagno retained the sole lead in the Women’s Grand Swiss with four players only half a point behind.
FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss Standings After Round 9
Open: Firouzja, Giri, Keymer Catch Bluebaum In Lead
Six of the top-10 games were decisive with some heroic battles stretching into the eighth hour of play.
Round 9 Results: Open
Check out the full games and results.
Our Game of the Day is German number-one Keymer’s fifth win in Samarkand, and likely a game that ends Maghsoodloo’s hopes of qualifying for the Candidates via the Grand Swiss. GM Dejan Bojkov will analyze it below.
The round-nine upsets were topped by a second loss to a teenager in two days for GM Levon Aronian, who this time fell to 15-year-old U.S. GM Andy Woodward, and GM Aleksandra Goryachkina taking down former world championship challenger GM Boris Gelfand.
FIDE Grand Swiss Round 9 Upsets
| Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg | Result | Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg |
| GM Levon Aronian (8) | 2744 | 0 – 1 | GM Andy Woodward (108) | 2557 | ||
| GM Alexander Donchenko (74) | 2624 | 1 – 0 | GM Pavel Eljanov (27) | 2682 | ||
| GM Boris Gelfand (44) | 2652 | 0 – 1 | GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (110) | 2528 | ||
| GM A.R. Saleh Salem (58) | 2640 | 0 – 1 | GM Alexandr Predke (90) | 2609 | ||
| GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (91) | 2608 | 1 – 0 | GM Etienne Bacrot (61) | 2637 | ||
| GM Andrei Volokitin (67) | 2628 | 0 – 1 | GM Aditya Mittal (104) | 2589 |
It’s likely only the top-six boards in round-10 will count in the battle for the Candidates places, since the players on 5.5/9 will need 2/2 and a lot to go their way above them to still finish in the top-two spots.
FIDE Grand Swiss Round 10 Pairings (Top 14)
| # | White | FED | Rtg | Result | Black | FED | Rtg |
| 1 | GM Alireza Firouzja (6.5) | 2754 | – | GM Anish Giri (6.5) | 2746 | ||
| 2 | GM Vincent Keymer (6.5) | 2751 | – | GM Matthias Bluebaum (6.5) | 2671 | ||
| 3 | GM Yu Yangyi (6) | 2714 | – | GM Arjun Erigaisi (6) | 2771 | ||
| 4 | GM Nihal Sarin (6) | 2693 | – | GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (6) | 2748 | ||
| 5 | GM Abhimanyu Mishra (6) | 2611 | – | GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (6) | 2738 | ||
| 6 | GM Hans Moke Niemann (6) | 2733 | – | GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (5.5) | 2785 | ||
| 7 | GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (5.5) | 2742 | – | GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (5.5) | 2681 | ||
| 8 | GM Amin Tabatabaei (5.5) | 2673 | – | GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (5.5) | 2741 | ||
| 9 | GM Jorden van Foreest (5.5) | 2692 | – | GM Javokhir Sindarov (5.5) | 2722 | ||
| 10 | GM Ivan Saric (5.5) | 2655 | – | GM Vidit Gujrathi (5.5) | 2712 | ||
| 11 | GM Shant Sargsyan (5.5) | 2653 | – | GM Richard Rapport (5.5) | 2711 | ||
| 12 | GM Awonder Liang (5.5) | 2698 | – | GM Nikolas Theodorou (5.5) | 2646 | ||
| 13 | GM Andy Woodward (5.5) | 2557 | – | GM Parham Maghsoodloo (5.5) | 2692 | ||
| 14 | GM Volodar Murzin (5) | 2670 | – | GM Alexei Shirov (5.5) | 2616 |
Women: Lagno Escapes Vs. Assaubayeva To Keep Sole Lead
The action on the top-two boards was intense but ended in draws, with only four decisive games on the top-10 Women’s boards, including a good day for the Muzychuk sisters.
Round 9 Results: Women
Check out the full games and results.
Krush’s win over former Women’s World Champion GM Antoaneta Stefanova can’t be considered a major upset, but it did keep outside hopes alive for Krush to reach the Candidates.
FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss Round 9 Upsets
| Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg | Result | Player (Seed) | FED | Rtg |
| IM Teodora Injac (12) | 2454 | 0 – 1 | IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva (33) | 2385 | ||
| GM Irina Krush (44) | 2366 | 1 – 0 | GM Antoaneta Stefanova (27) | 2395 | ||
| IM Lilit Mkrtchian (28) | 2393 | 0 – 1 | IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (37) | 2379 | ||
| WIM Umida Omonova (52) | 2252 | 1 – 0 | IM Nurgyul Salimova (32) | 2386 | ||
| WIM Elnaz Kaliakhmet (51) | 2299 | 1 – 0 | IM Vantika Agrawal (35) | 2381 |
It’s likely only the top-four boards in the Women’s Grand Swiss will matter for the Candidates spots, though Tan already having qualified increases the chances for those in the hunt.
FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss Round 10 Pairings (Top 6)
| # | White | FED | Rtg | Result | Black | FED | Rtg |
| 1 | GM Tan Zhongyi (6.5) | 2531 | – | GM Kateryna Lagno (7) | 2505 | ||
| 2 | IM Song Yuxin (6.5) | 2409 | – | GM Bibisara Assaubayeva (6.5) | 2505 | ||
| 3 | GM Vaishali Rameshbabu (6.5) | 2452 | – | GM Mariya Muzychuk (6) | 2484 | ||
| 4 | IM Guo Qi (5.5) | 2371 | – | GM Irina Krush (6) | 2366 | ||
| 5 | IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva (5.5) | 2385 | – | GM Olga Girya (5.5) | 2386 | ||
| 6 | IM Polina Shuvalova (5) | 2492 | – | GM Anna Muzychuk (5.5) | 2535 |
This is a flash report—come back later for full player quotes and analysis!
The 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss and FIDE Women’s Grand Swiss are 11-round Swiss tournaments taking place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on September 4-15. Each will decide two places in the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournaments that select the next world championship challengers. The Open tournament has a $625,000 prize fund, with $90,000 for first place, while the Women’s is $230,000 ($40,000). The time control is classical, with a longer time control for the Open of 100 minutes/40 moves + 50 min/20 + 15 min, with a 30-second increment from move 1.
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